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Saturday, April 30, 2011

For those who got the Debenhams email this week, you know that we all got a free 5 pound voucher to use towards anything at the store and if you continued to read the rest of the email, we also got a free sample set from Benefit with their new product line "b.right!".

I ran and got mine. Now I know a lot of people could care less about samples, but I'm a bit of a sample hoarder, so this was on my to do list immediately. I'm glad I did.
The deluxe samples are a good size and I can't wait to try them.

I also am a huge sucker for packaging, so the cute little glass bottles won me over. I am also in LOVE with the scent of these products. It has such a nice fresh scent and slightly sweet. I can't comment on the product itself quite yet, but I am very picky about scents and it's a deal breaker for me, so these items are winning so far.

In a reusable cardboard cute box (what else do you expect from Benefit)

You know that saying, "waste not, want not", well I live up to that motto. The cardboard box is adorable to me for some reason and quite useful due to its sturdiness, so I'm using it in my nail polish drawer right now to hold the small odd bits (small clips, cotton balls, tweezers, eyelash curler replacements, pencil sharpener, etc etc) in it and it saved quite some space too!

Anyways, back to the sample set :)

They included:

"Triple Performing" - Facial Emulsion

"Foamingly Clean" - Facial Wash

"It's Potent!" - Eye Cream

I am crazy for this scent. It actually reminds me a lot of the fragrance in the Dior skincare products, so if I use this and it works well with my skin, I will be indulging in this set instead of replacing my Dior skincare set for sure!

Also, as some of you know...I'm on my project 10 ban, so I couldn't take advantage of the 5 pound voucher, but I cheated a little...DH bought something with the 5 pound voucher for me, and will surprise me with it once I finish my 10 items!!!!!!!!!! Major bonus points for DH today :) I'm pretty sure it's nail polish since he knows how obsessed I am with that. haha.

Ok, so other than the lovely day out, I'm happy to have picked up this and enjoyed another lovely spring day here. I'm happy that the royal wedding business is over and we can all get back to reality lol.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Ahhhhh, 8 months of living out of a suitcase and today I finally reunited with my belongings from the states (Miami to be exact). I was so happy, despite sleeping only 4.5 hours :) I ripped open my boxes so fast and gave my stuff it's rightful place in the bedroom.
Oh the joy! hahaha. I knew exactly which box were my polishes and makeup and sad to say that only 1 polish didn't make it, but that was the only damage to my belongings. Well a pair of silver flats I had were crushed, but it's expected. These boxes did come a long way!

I am so happy.
I still have so much to do, but I'm updating my "My Stash" page now that my collection is finally together, and then the reality will kick in at how little I actually have haha.

Ok well good moods, happy Tuesday, and I shall return with something more fun.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy Easter Monday everyone, that's of course if you celebrate, if not...Happy day off of work :)

I am pretty much fed up with easter duties and decided to be antisocial and paint my nails and blog instead. Definitely getting use to this immobility of not having a car and being at the mercy of the local transportation schedule. I guess even bus drivers need a day off too :)
So what do I do when I have nothing else to do? Paint my nails! #1 hobby right now for me.

Enjoy!

(weird angling, ewww my finger looks crooked LOL)

(This is me imitating KathyRose :p, although I didn't do it as well as she does it lol)

I tried to get different angles, because the Nubar 2010 is very iridescent and depending on angle it changes from pink, orange, green, yellow, etc. etc. so it really created some multi dimension on top of the Models Own Purple Pearl.

I was highly impressed with the Models Own application. This is my first and won't be my last. I didn't particularly pick this color because I liked it a lot, I picked it because it was in the 2 pound bin lol So I wanted to get it to test how the formula was and how it applied. It was very smooth, and honestly for a 5 pound nail polish, it is well worth it. I have no complaints about Models Own at all, and utterly excited to nab some other colors on sale! Come on Models Own, bring back that 50% off sale!

This is also my first and only Nubar in my collection. I got this for a little over $2 on ebay US using my ebay bucks, so after hearing some good reviews on TPF (The Purse Forum) about how the flakies were brillant, I decided to grab it off ebay before I moved to England. The finish is smooth and the flakies did not add any bumpiness to the polish. I applied about 3 thin layers of Nubar and that's all it took to completely cover my nail.
This top coat really jazzes up your nail and since the base is clear, it won't interfere with your base coat.

and I was in town today so I picked up a free Nails Inc polish again (with purchase of a Diet coke at boots) for a friend.

Out of the project 10 pan items, I will probably only repurchase the Lush face mask, although all products are very good. It's just too many out there that I want to try before repurchasing any of these products.

Sorry about the quick post. I am actually meeting my brother in law for the first time and trying look somewhat presentable in my sweats/pj's LOL

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Freebie Alert!
For americans, getting free stuff with magazines just doesn't exist, so that is one thing that I am absolutely enjoying.

I got a free Murad Daily Cleanser with the latest Instyle magazine. It's huge, it's not a deluxe sample size either, it's a 2.0 fl oz/60 ml size cleanser. I couldn't believe it. I remember shelling out big bucks to purchase Murad at Sephora and Ulta and I got it for free with my monthly magazine, so it's quite a deal for me.

Then I grabbed a diet coke, because I was dying of thrist from walking around town.
It was a gorgeous 73 degrees yesterday and quite hot. This is a girl who months ago lived in Miami where 73 was the typical weather for the winter seasons. So my body has definitely adapted to English weather ha! Anyhoo, with a free diet coke you get a bottle of Nails Inc polish in Caramel. It's a perfect nude color for me and definitely perfect for mannequin hands. So I got the Nails Inc bottle :) Actually I read on the bottle that it is free with 2 bottles, but luckily the cashier didn't read it close enough and I got it with just 1 bottle. Lucky me!

Here they are...

They Valued the Murad at 10 pounds value and the Nails Inc at 11 pounds.

21 pounds = $35+
Not bad for this American girl! lol

I'll be returning to Boots on May 5th to grab another full size Nails Inc bottle with the next Instyle magazine!!

Previously, I showed you all my ebay haul where I won a bunch of polishes for not even the cost of 1 polish, so now I finally got to swatch these for you.

I'm sorry I've been so bad with blogging, the last few days I had an awesome mani and I forgot to take a photo (YSL 42 with Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow on top). It won't happen again :)

Here are my swatches of the Revlons:

Up first, Coffee Bean
(oh and plz excuse the cuticles, my lord I was in need of some cuticle oil)

This was pretty sheer compared to the what I thought it would look like by just glancing at the bottle. This is 3 coats.

Next up...

From Left to Right

Animal Instinct

Moonlit Mauve

Plum Night

Animal Instinct and Moonlit Mauve have tiny micro glitters.

Gold glitter in Animal Instinct and

Silver glitter in Moonlit Mauve

I didn't really think I would like either of these, but I am fond of both of them.

Especially Moonlit Mauve

Plum Night is your typical vampy purple/plum creme

All polishes have a nice glossy finish and I'm just super happy about this haul.

The only one that won't make the cut is probably Coffee Bean. It's a little boring for my taste, but it is a nice muted neutral and you can either wear it sheer or layer it up like I did for a more opaque color.

And while I was swatching, look who was staring at me from the garden lol

He's such a happy pup right now, but this face just reads "what is my mommy doing now? oh god her nails again?!" lol

I couldn't control myself, I went into town yesterday (lovely sunny day - a rare thing here) to pick up some free things and I wanted to shop so badly. They were all just right there, saying pick me pick me!!! But I was strong and stuck to my word and came back with just my freebies. I'm making my way very well through my project 10 pan items.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Ahhh the Monday blues. Technically I'm not allowed to use this statement since I left my office job so there shouldn't be anymore Monday blues, but it's still is a melancholy Monday for moi.

Project 10 pan is going well, I'm almost done 1 product, had to substitute one of my items, because I gave it away. Overall, I'm really showing some self discipline.

I have no photos due to my sucky camera yet again, so I will just ramble :)

Here are some things that I found that I bookmarked.

SPARITUAL POLISH BARGAIN FIND
Click here for Sparitual polishes for only 2.95 pounds (makes it about $5 for us heads). The colors are limited, but I know it's a hard polish to get at this price range, so grab it if you aren't on a ban.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Well I figured that all these items have a shelf life and I need to use them, because the biggest waste of money would be for me to hoard and not use.

Also, with me not purchasing new items, I think that I can save that money towards a trip to Paris and furniture for my place (whenever I get one).

So for those reasons and more, I have decided to embark on a self inflicted torture called the Project 10 pan.

No new beauty products until I have used up 10 products of my choice.

I'm going to start off easy, and then start into my actual cosmetic products once they arrive from the states (currently in english customs yaya!).
On a side note, it has been so difficult to live out of 2 suitcases since september 2010. Wow, I never realized what it meant to live with the bare necessities really. So in the next 2 weeks, my cargo is all coming out of customs, hopefully without a huge customs bill and I will then have the fun task of organizing 22 boxes into a small 3 bedroom townhouse LOL. Wish me luck!

But the biggest luck is needed in me not purchasing anything (even ebay) and sticking to my promise of no new beauty products until I finish 10 items.

Am I crazy? I have never had such a restriction ever, let alone a self imposed one, but I know I can do it. I know I need to do it, and it will be good for self discipline and for my wallet.

So here are my 10, I actually even put them in their own baggie, so that I know to use them up.

WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!

ecccckkkkkkk lol

PS - And don't worry, I will be posting as often as possible during my ban. I have tons of untrieds in my collection and like I said, I have a whole cargo coming too. So continue coming back and share my blog with your friends too. CHEERS! xx

*****EDIT****
After I wrote this, II'm editing my project 10 pan items due to having to give away some of the items for people to use, so I replaced them with some other items.

I am slowly making it through all my untried polishes and I thought that these two would go well together, but it didn't LOL.
The base of Barry M Silver Cascade is actually a pink fuchsia color, so I thought that it would blend well with Essie's Big Spendor.

Big Spendor was gorgeous on it's own. I loved the playful glossy magenta color and honestly I should have left it at that.

With the first application of Silver Cascade, it was a huge glitter bomb just splattered all over my fingernails. don't get me wrong, I absolustely love glitter, but I was disappointed that the silver glitter overpowered all the other glitters. You could no longer see Big Spendor through all the glitter. Silver Cascade is a one coater and not meant for the shy. Next time I'll do a glitter tip, but honestly I can't handle the whole nail being this color.

Silver Cascade was also extremely hard to take off and it wasn't due to the glitter not budging, it had to do with the micro glitters sticking to the skin and not coming off. Quite annoying really. Even acetone was no match for this.

But I could see silver cascade being a huge hit at night and a perfect New years even manicure, i just couldn't handle it on a thursday morning when I was expecting a different finish to this.

Here is the blinding effect of the massive amounts of silver glitter that was in this polish

I'm going to try this on a naked nail and see if the pink polish peeks through on Silver Cascade.

Here is my nail of the day. It goes perfectly with the gloomy weather the last 2 days. Bring back my Spring!!
On the bottom is the famous Deborah Lipmmann Waking Up in Vegas, which as made famous by Lady GAGA who wore this and only this on a cover of Rolling Stones (I could be wrong). On top I wore Chanel Black Velvet which is your standard black polish but with a unique finish. It dries completely different than my Chanel Black Satin which is glossy at the end.

I love Chanel Black Velvet and in efforts to save my money, I found a kind soul on my forum (shout outs Novella!) who swapped Chanel Illusions D'or with this. I know Illusions D'or is on many people's wishlist, it just didn't do it for me and Black Velvet is so much more my cup of tea.

So here is my non traditional french manicure.

Excuse the pre cleanup look, I was in a rush rush state.

Black Velvet went on like silk, but took a long time to dry. It must be the formula that makes it this hard to dry and my biggest issue this time was Waking Up In Vegas. It is a gorgeous grey, don't get me wrong, but I hate how the formula splits in the bottle. There is a line of yellow floating on top of the polish. For $18, I don't think it should do this. None of my other polishes do, so that is my biggest disappointment. If I knew this prior to purchasing it, I would have opted for another grey.
But what's done is done and I am going to try to use up my bottle, before I invest in another one.

I am currently rocking a new mani so I didn't want to take it off to do these swatches, so I got them down for you on paper. I guess this is why a lot of girls purchase nail wheels. hmmm...perhaps I'm at that stage now??? (I love how I just justify purchasing more nail related products).

Ugh My camera sucks. Here are the swatches, they all came out a bit dark...sorry!!
I think I'm going to go on the Project 10 pan project so curb my spending and actually invest in a camera.

I don't know any YSL polishes. Well I did once but I sold it (dumb me!) so I am happy to have YSL back into my collection and another Barry M, YAY!
I think Revlon is the least exciting for me. I think it's has to do with their bottles honestly. I think they are outdated and just awkward shape. I wish they would do something new and innovative considering how big they are and how much money they make, I think they would do with a revamping.

My favorite in this collection is the YSL 42. It is a nice dusty rose color. I already have an outfit in mind to go with this polish. Spring is definitely in the air and I think for a day I can walk away from the vampy/blue/grey/black shades (my fav!).

Has anyone else found good deals on ebay uk? or ebay. Don't you just love it. It truly is a testimony to how one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Of course when I moved here, a lot of beauty products didn't make the cut. Anything that had any type of serum/liquid consistency stayed behind in the states. As much as I love hoarding my beauty products, there was no way I was going to risk having them spill over my few bags and shoes that I had left.

So my frizzy dried hair self walked into Boots to pick up a hair serum and I cringed looking at the prices. I noticed Toni & Guy was very popular, but at 8 pounds ($14-15) I didn't think it was worth it. Here I go comparing US prices and UK prices and products again lol. But I just couldn't do it.

I am a self proclaimed cheap wad, I admit it. So when I saw Boots had a nice size bottle of hair serum, I walked happily and paid 2 pounds for it.

60 ml
Can be found at Boots
2 pounds

What a deal.
This is a pump style bottle and one pump is sufficient.
I made the mistake of putting 2 pumps in my hair and my thin (already greasy) hair looked like I barely even washed it.
So a little goes a long way.
The smell is sooooooo pleasant :) light fresh floral scent and I did accidentally rub my eyes with this stuff on and it didn't sting my eyes.

In the past, I have used some very popular and expensive hair gloss/glass serums and spray and other than TIGI head rush, this has to be the 2nd best hair serum I've used.

And paying 2 pounds didn't hurt the wallet and I am quite happy with the results

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Love is an understatement, perhaps obsessed is a better word right now.
I have this dream that one day I'll win the lotto and can have an all Alexander Wang wardrobe. I don't think I felt this way about a designer before. Although, I don't technically own anything by Alexander wang other than some T By Alexander Wang tops and dress that I got during his sale, I regret not purchasing more from this NY designer before I left the states.

I am putting some money away slowly (pound here and there) that one day I can afford the Rocco bag. I'm hoping that the hype around these bags can die down, so that I can score one at a good price, but I doubt it.

But....I fell in love today with one of his shoes from this season. I'll be waiting a few months before I try to nab these at a sale price.

Behold, the noemi combat boots, currently $685...yeah, I definitely have to wait until these go on sale, and they usually do.

Last week, I missed out on the Jodi bag on ebay by 2.50 cents. Can you believe it!!?!?!?! ugh, I hate losing auctions, especially by that little.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I want every single Models Own Nail polish that is out there lol.
They are nicely priced at 5 pounds each or cheaper if you buy more on their website.
I just haven't taken the plunge, because I've been just completely obsessed with charity shopping lately and Alexander Wang. Ok that's for another post, but that is why I don't own every single Models Own polish right now.

I walked into River Island for the first time, not knowing what to expect and on the way out, I noticed a clearance cart with models own polish in it!!!
Too bad they only had one color, so I grabbed it for 2 pounds and now I officially own my first Models Own polish. 1 down, like 50 more to go???

First thing I noticed is that you get a ton of polish!
14ml and this is I believe the biggest bottle of polish I own.

Here it is...

I never thought I was a fan of Pearl finishes or Purple polish, but I am definitely keeping this one. Once again, 1 coat opaque application and very smooth texture. There is no streak issues with this pearl finish and that is a great sign and a green light for me to go and buy more.

I'm such a nerd. Right now, my favorite shop is Boots. I really enjoy looking in there, because there are so many products in there that I have never seen in my life.
Collection 2000 is one of these new brands to me. It looked and is around the price range of other drugstore brands and since they were running a promotion, I figured...why not? This is the time to buy.

If you spend 4 pounds or more on any Collection 2000 products, you get a free nail varnish. So I got:

so I ended up not getting exactly 4 pounds worth, but I wanted to see if their eyeshadows were any good so I spent the extra 1 pound....bank breaking right? lol

Well, it feels like it honestly, because the eyeshadow was utter rubbish.

The only color that gave me any pay off was the middle color and even with that I had to run my fingers 3 times onto the shadow to pick it up.
I'm really disappointed in how hard and little color I got from this trio. Total waste of my 1.99, thank god it wasn't anymore.

However, the haul was not all a bust.
The shimmering face powder and nail varnish was wonderful!!

The shimmering face powder at 2.99 is a great bargain. Really!
It gives a great subtle bronzing glow without making me look orange and it really is great. It is just the same quality as my Physicians Formula Happy Booster that retails for $12.99. I love it, it's here to stay.

Last but not least....my freebie.
woot! woot!
Like I said before, Free is my favorite 4 letter F word :p
I picked this violet color, because it leaned closer to blue than purple and it reminded me of Chanel vendetta, so I grabbed this over the other bright neon colors.

The polish provided 1 coat opaque application and that wins in my book!

So 4 pounds spent and 2 out of 3 products are staying with me.
Not too shabby for a quick trip to Boots :)

Tk Maxx is TJ Maxx in the states and funny enough, they are all the same.
Even across the Atlantic, people leave the beauty aisles in a big mess. What is wrong with people? Why do they do that at TJ/TK Maxx. It's so annoying.
Well, thanks to those who do that, my Stila set was inside of a plastic case that only the sales people could unlock. I couldn't really see the colors in the set, but I figured for only 5 pounds that I should take this gamble, and I'm glad I did.

The tinted moisturizer is a bit warmer for me than usual, but in the summer it will work. I was skeptical with this, because I didn't think that it would give me enough coverage, but surprisingly it did even out some of my discoloration issues, so that was a big surprise and I quite like this and will keep it in my collection.

The lip color does look bold and bright at first, but when I lightly swatched it on my arm, it was definitely sheer. That makes it doable for day time in my book. The smell is ok, it reminds me of chapstick a bit, but at least it's still fresh considering I got it on clearance :)

The only disappointment is the eyeshadow for me. Lately, I just can't do matte eyeshadow. I have no idea why, I get so bored of matte eyeshadows and so this one will be put in my swap/sale page on my blog. Stila does make their products to be natural and therefore, I can see why the application of these products are sheer. I guess right now in my life, I want bold and bang for the bucks which equates to major color pay off.

Overall, for 5 pounds, I had fun swatching and grabbing 3 Stila items for such a bargain price.
Not all products work out for me, but oh well...that's life. I think this range and these products are great for those who don't like to look like they have makeup on, but do have have it on....if that makes any sense.

So moral of the story is.....don't hesitate to go to the ugly TK/TJ Maxx beauty section, because you never know what you may find :)

Next up on my swatch list was the Color Club Worth the Risque polish. Also given to me recently, this is an exciting addition to my polish collection, especially since I love holo polishes. I am so happy that I have this. This gives great linear holo, and altho it isn't as bold as the Gosh Holographic polish, the application and lasting power kicks Gosh's behind. It finishes off with a shiny top coat unlike Gosh and this lasted 2 full days for me before showing tip wear, unless Gosh's Holographic, which lasted well ummm 2 hours.

I hated my iphone quality pictures, so I tried my mac photobooth to take this, so hope you guys get to see how great this polish is.

oh and off topic, as I was taking pictures, my pup was snoring next to me, so I have to show you guys how passed out he was lol WHAT A LIFE!